Tag Archives: Entries

Issue # 2.0.2 “Be a Force For Change!”

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Wednesday, March 16, 2016

TWO BLOWOUTS TO START, HOW WILL IT END?
18 hours to go — Deadline is 9 am PDT tomorrow

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- I hope the first two games of the tournament are no indication of what’s to come as #16Ea-FGCU trounced #16Eb-Fairleigh Dickinson by 30 and #11Sb-Wichita St knocked off #11Sa-Vandy by 20.  Hope for some close matches and some good upsets.  It’s amazing there are multiple ways to watch the game but in a car, it’s not on the radio.  Thank goodness for TuneIn radio so was able to hear the blowouts on my long drive home.

So there was apparently a leak of the bracket thirty or so minutes into a 2-hour long debacle of a Selection Show.  It’s one of many things I’ve been oblivious of the past several months (there was a terrorist attack nearby in San Bernardino?   Star Wars TV spots were airing maybe spoiling the film a little bit?) as work and family schedules ramped up.  But this pool is fun and worth all the work that goes into it.

With 69 entries with 18 hours to go (on graph, Hour 66), we are just slightly off 2014’s (72) and 2015’s (73) paces.  If you look at the historical trends since we’ve been doing this entry form since 2002, you can see the majority of the entries come tonight (you can see that last year, from 3 pm to midnight we got 50 entries (from 73 to 123) — that seems like it will be very hard to duplicate).  And remember, Continue reading »

Issue # 4.1.2 “Day of Calm”

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Friday, March 20, 2015

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FAVORITES WIN 23 STRAIGHT IN DAY OF SO-SO GAMES
 Six are perfect today while The Flying Elvi sets record with 23 straight wins 

REDONDO BEACH, CA (smt)- I guess all the excitement was used up as the first 15 lower seeds won with two games decided by three points of less, both of which saw #13MW-Valpo and #13E-UCI falter on the last possession without getting a shot off giving #4MW-Maryland (its 11th straight Round of 64 win) and #4E-Louisville victories.  #2MW-Kansas, #1S-Duke, #5E-Northern Iowa, #7S-Iowa, #1W-Wisconsin, and #11E-Dayton (the only higher seed to win) had comfortable wins while #7E-Michigan St, #2E-Virginia, #7MW-Wichita St, #5MW-West Virginia, #8W-Oregon, #3E-Oklahoma, #8S-San Diego St, and #2S-Gonzaga pulled away late.  Dayton, who played at their home arena for the First Four and in-state for the Round of 64 (and now Round of 32) games, made it 5 straight years a First Four team has won at least two games.  I didn’t see many games (followed on phone) but apparently didn’t miss much (did see the ends of the Valpo and UCI debacles).  I guess the only interesting thing is we will get the Kansas-Wichita St matchup people have been talking about.

We now have 161 entries and expect it to stay that way.  Because the lower seeds won 23 straight games, that meant Continue reading »

Issue # 3.1.1 “Fourteen is the New Twelve”

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Thursday, March 19, 2015

CLOSE GAMES, FOUR HUGE UPSETS, KY ROLL
Our 21st year sees a record 159+ entries 

CERRITOS, CA (smt)- This was a day not to miss.  Five games decided by a single point.  Nine decided by 5 points or less.  Two overtime games.  Teams having multiple shots at glory at the buzzer.  Controversial calls.  A player ejected.  Near buzzer-beaters (0.1 and 2.7 seconds left).  Unnecessary late turnovers that boggle the mind.  13-0, 8-0, and 6-0 runs to end games (3 of the 5 single point wins).  Four double-digit seeds winning in the first 8 games.  Chalk the last 8 games.  Three conferences perfect while the Big 12 0-fer.

Oh so close of having the very first 3 games eliminate three #3 seeds.  But #3MW-Notre Dame held on against #14MW-Northeastern but fellow 3 seeds #3S-Iowa St and #3W-Baylor weren’t so lucky.  Baylor was upended by #14W-Georgia St who scored just Continue reading »

First Four for Charity – Day Two

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Final Standings

#16aS-North Florida started off strong but eventually, like in their conference final, #16bS-Robert Morris chipped away and pulled off a 4-point win, 81-77.  That meant Wendy B and Kevin T were tied at 2-1 with Kevin holding a 2-point lead in the point differential tiebreaker (18 to 20).  Home-team-wearing-road-uniforms #11Eb-Dayton took the lead, trailed late, and eventually came back to pull off a 1-point win, 56-55, thanks to a no-call-that-is-usually-called on a buzzer-beating 3-point attempt by #11Ea-Boise St.  That margin gave Kevin T the HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity title, holding off Wendy B by 3 points (3-1, 22 to 25 differential).  The Flyers win also meant Scott T (10th) and Eric C (last) didn’t go 0-4.  Elizabeth W, despite being 50 points off in her picks, finished 8th.  North Florida will be a footnote in our pool as only teams who make the 64 are counted in our pool.  So only 4 new teams made it.

So thanks for playing but we’re not done yet.  In addition to the $22 (11 x $2) I will be donating based on the entries to the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, I should be getting at least $15 from other generous people, and, since we look like we’re passing 138 entries (see below), I’ll be chipping in another $25.  So at least $62.

As of 2:15 am, we have 133 entries (from 91 people, 18 who are brand new!), well on our way of breaking the 138 we had last year (I still have 2 entries and we have 2 mail-in entries (yes, mail-in!)).  We had a record-breaking 72 entries on Wednesday, shattering the old record of 63 in 2013 and ended with 123 which blitzed by the old record of 110 set last year.  We have also set a record of 32 people entering more than one entry (we had 26 in 2012 and 25 last year) which may reflect the balancing point of picking Kentucky and not picking Kentucky.

Issue # 2.0.2 “What are We Pool Geeks Called?”

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Who's going to Star Wars Celebration Anaheim?

Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Issue # 2.0.2 “What are We Pool Geeks Called?”
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FIRST FOUR AS FIRST ROUND CLOSING SOON
At 3 p.m., 2015 pace eclipsing last year’s record pace of entries received 

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- Some good Tuesday games as under #16bMW-Hampton won their 5th game in a row to reach .500 (17-17) and the right to lose to #1MW-Kentucky while #11aW-Ole Miss rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to beat #11bW-BYU in a high-scoring affair, 94-90.  In 2012, BYU had rallied from a 25-point deficit in a First Four game.  As #16aS-North Florida leads by six at the half and tries to make the Round of 64 proper for the first time, a rare home game will see host #11bE-Dayton battle #11aE-Boise St.  After the First Four is done with, it will no longer be considered the 1st Round, thus confusing as Thursday starts the 2nd Round.  We will revert back to the 1st Round being the Round of 64 games and the 2nd Round being the Round of 32 games next year.  Small victory.  Haven’t really seen any Kentucky backlash (as in the world is now not picking the Wildcats to win it all) yet.

So as I am excited to attend Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim (who else will be there??) and meeting all the great Star Wars fans (geeks, if you may), I was wondering what pool geeks are called.  Poeeks?  Brackeeks?  Bracketeers? We love this March Madness and last year Continue reading »

If you didn’t know, one day down

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So this is interesting.  We got a record 42 entries on Tuesday, shattering the previous record of 25 (2011).  Maybe the java issues prompted people to enter earlier than usual.  We now have 60 entries, which considering we typically get just 30% of our final total by this time, that would mean we’d have 200 entries.  We won’t get close to that, but we have a pretty good shot of surpassing 2012’s record total of 134.  So keep spreading the word.

Yes, two games were played today (I’m so tired I thought all 4 were being played today).  8 correctly picked NC State and Continue reading »

Catching up

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Well, my business review is over and it went well.  Drove almost two hours from Pax River in Maryland back to Tyson’s Corner in Virginia.  Got a very good filet, crab bisque, and very fresh scallops (and I don’t care for scallops).  Then walked about 5 miles in DC in sub-freezing weather.  So now, playing catch-up with the pool.  First of all, sorry to everyone if you’re an Apple fanboy/girl and couldn’t load the java applet to see the bracket but thanks to you for being flexible and taking pictures with your smartphone (yes, even iPhones) and sending it to us.  I think I’ve finally entered the last of them delaying David in posting the standings.  If it’s not up soon, then check tomorrow morning.

So it’s weird that at dinner, only half the games have been completed (here in the EDT).  Or is it weird Continue reading »

Surprises to Start

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Wow, they were right about ND playing themselves up to a 6 seed which is probably too high… unfortunately, both of my brckets had ND :-(.   And OT for Florida-BYU!

Unofficially, we have 118 entries, which tops last year.  Still working out final details and hope to have some info up later today.

Deemed to Win

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Okay, I gave my son a cookie (it has fruit in it :-)) to give me a little time here to submit my second entry, Deemed to Win, courtesy of Pelosi & Reid.  So even if my bracket doesn’t actually win, since I deemed it so, it’s like it did win.  Right?  This one is more loopy with Duke winning it all as the cookie didn’t last as long as I thought and was distracted while entering towards the end.

With about 10 minutes left til the deadline, it looks like we’ve hit the magical 115th entry.  I’ll be taking my son to school soon so I may not be able to update the right side of this blog til later this morning.

Eight Hours Left

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Eight hours remain til the 9 am PDT deadline.  Note:  We will accept brackets til tipoff, which is 9:20 am, but the entry form will be disabled just past 9 am, so if you get to the java bracket, you can still enter your picks but make sure you submit it before 9:20 (we have a timestamp on the file you submit).  If you think you may not make it, scan and email your pencil-written bracket or fax it to me.

Currently, we have 89 entries including 53 that came in Wednesday.  That is short of our record 62 we got last year so topping 114 doesn’t look good, but there is still time.  Best of luck to everyone!

Mid-day Update

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As of 4 pm, we are at 53 entries which 7 more than we had at this time last year.  But last year’s pace went at a torrid rate as the evening rolled on and into the morning, so although we are likely to top 100 entries (and therefore, a 5th place prize), it’ll be hard to top the 114 entries we had last year.  A lot of regulars are now starting to enter with 10 of the past 17 entries having been with us for at least EIGHT years.

Record Tuesday!

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First off, congrats to Arkansas-Pine Bluff for making the REAL part of the bracket.  Have fun losing to Duke.

We got a record 23 entries for a  Tuesday (topping 2006’s 21 entries) for a total of 32 thus far (in 2008 we had 39 at this point).  Our mainstays are slowly coming in.  We have nine new entries (from six people).  Three have entered twice and one trying their luck with the max 3.  Though history shows us that since 2005, you have higher percentage of winning one of the top prizes with one entry than with 2 or 3 (5.1% vs. 2.8%).  However, one person has won something the past 3 years so maybe you feel lucky?  Also, of the 91 times people have submitted multiple entries, just 3 of the 11 who have won something did so on their 2nd or 3rd bracket (meaning if the other 8 just entered one bracket, they would have won anyway).  But it does pump up our entry count, so thank you!

Tricklin’ in…

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Our first entry was from Brian S. (Flying Elvi) who was going to be on vacation during this time in the Far East so he chose all the favorites for the first few rounds and then ordered his top eight teams (looking at only last week’s rankings).  Luckily, he had Purdue a very low #7 or else he may have regretted it when he came back (Duke was his 5th choice, so they will take out Purdue in the Sweet 16).  Although I picked my teams before Selection Sunday as well last year, we didn’t get the bracket up and running til Monday morning, so the Flying Elvi is the first entry submitted on Sunday since 2005.

Eight more came in on Monday which seems low but this seems to be a harder bracket to crack.  Of course last year, we had just 11 by Tuesday and ended up with a record 114.  Currently, we have 17 which is the same as last year at this time.  Interestingly, 8 of the 17 are online entries (people who somehow trust us with their money and found us through the magic of bing (okay, google).  Last year we had 13 online entries and in 2008 we had a record 15.  Of course, the best part of the online entries is that they always pay up immediately 🙂  The fact 15 of the 17 have paid up is nice (and I have beats on the other two).

For those who have played in the pool for ages, the “Referred by:” box is typically ignored but it does allow people to express their wittiness (if not in their chosen nickname).  Some gems:  “Mom“, “Gosh, I don’t know…been doing it for years...”, “walrus+sledgehammer=orgy“, “History/Picked by 4yr daughter“, “Mrs. Wonderful“, “The voices in my head“, “Ghosts“, “A little bird told me“, and “GOD“.  I bring this up because no one sees this but David F. and myself .  So, the Los Angeles Galaxy (now without Becks but the Galaxy should be used to that) have a mascot, okay, he’s sometimes a starting forward named Alan Gordon.  When the Galaxy missed the playoffs for three straight years, he was a source of entertainment (infamously known for tying his shoelaces while on a break, and thus, the nice cross into the box went to where he would’ve been had he not been tying his shoe).  So last year, Sam N. put down in the referred box “Alan Gordon” – I laughed out loud.  This year, David A. also put down “Alan Gordon” which I thought was classic until I remembered Sammy did it last year.  So if someone calls you an “Alan Gordon”, it’s not a compliment.

Reminders…

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I’ll be flying out to Austin tomorrow morning so I’ll be out of internet range til 2 or 3 pm  CDT, but I’ll still be able to check my email on my phone… just replying will be tough since I’m not a texting expert yet.  But I should be online Wednesday night and Thursday morning (til tip-off, 11 CDT/9 PDT) and if you have any questions, you can gmail chat me at smt0222(at)gmail.com.

Also, please let David or I know if you are mailing a check (and for that matter, let us know you are paying your fee at all ;-))  as soon as possible.  The quicker we can confirm everyone’s paid up, the quicker we can get the pool info up (such as prize breakdown).

Always check this blog for the latest info. Also, you can see on the right side I have given a status on who’s paid and which brackets we haven’t got yet.  You can also see the nicknames, so you can discuss the ones you like/don’t like here.  I like a lot of the new nicknames so far and am afraid to ask where Beefmaster came from.  Remember, try not to use punctuation (e.g., $, &, ‘) in your nickname, if possible.  Also, there is a 21-character limit and no profanity (Fern).

Right now, there’s a discussion on how far UCLA will go.  Feel free to post other comments or brag how good your picks are on the discussion board.

We have 31 entries thus far, which is outpacing 2007’s record breaking year.

Pouring in…

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As of 6 pm Monday, we’ve had a record-breaking 16 entries for a Monday. We need just two more to be ahead of the 2005 pace when we 17 after Sunday & Monday. Every entry seems legit thus far with only two (both veterans – Wendy B. & Chris F.) yet to communicate how to get their fee in. And in a change of pace, five have actually PREPAID (!) their fee (maybe they want to make sure they don’t use it for gas money :-)). We’ve had two people enter three times (the max), which ties a record set last year (usually, just Robinson C. enters 3 picks).

Also, if you are using PayPal and want to do the credit card option, make sure you send the money to smt0222(at)yahoo.com, not hwci(at)hotmail.com. Only the former can accept credit card payments.